The Task Email action allows sending an email with a single Yes/No or Multiple-choice question to another user. This article discusses the Task Email action in more detail.
Table of Contents
- Understanding the Task Email Action
- Setting Up a Task Email Action
- How a Task Email Action Appears in the User Application
Understanding the Task Email Action
The Task Email action will assign a task in a workflow to another user via email. It allows the user doing the assigning to define Yes/No or Multiple-Choice answer buttons that the recipient can click directly from within the email. Thus, the assigned user does not need to run the workflow in a browser. This makes the Task Email action ideal for surveys and approvals, among other use cases.
The Task Email action works with Public, Invitation Required, and Registration Required workflows. For more information on publishing settings in AUTTO, see Publishing a Workflow.
Like any email, attachments can be added to a Task Email action.
For example, in a simple workflow that involves users submitting expense reports for approval to their managers, you can set a Task Email action for when the expense report is submitted to the manager.
The Task Email action is inserted after the Form action where the user attaches the expense report. With this Task Email action, the user turns over the workflow to the manager - the expense report is now in the hands of the manager for approval. The manager gets informed about the action via an email notification to which they answer with a Yes or No. The workflow is then returned to the user via an email notification that informs the user that the request has been approved or disapproved.
NOTE: When previewing a Task Email action, an actual email is sent to the user assigned to the task. This allows you to test this step before putting the workflow in production.
Below is an image of a workflow corresponding to the above scenario, as seen in the Workflow Editor.
NOTE: The Assign User action also assigns tasks in workflows to other users but works differently from the Task Email action. It also works with Invitation and Registration Required workflows only. For more information, see Assign User Action.
Setting Up a Task Email Action
A Task Email action is used anytime you want to send an email that will allow the recipient to answer questions directly from within the email.
To Set Up a Task Email Action
To set up a Task Email action:
- Drag a Task Email action to the canvas of the Workflow Editor, and connect it to the prior action in the workflow.
- Position your cursor over the action, then click the Edit icon when it appears.
- On the Action Editor, enter a headline and message that will be displayed to the workflow's current user. The headline is optional but the message is required.
- Under the Assign Task Email to Next User section, you can either choose the next user from the list, or enter the email address manually or via a square bracket. For more information about square brackets, see Working with Square Brackets.
- Enter a subject for the task email.
- Under the Attachments section, select a file/s that will be attached to the email, if applicable. For more information, see Attaching Files to Actions.
- Under the Message box, enter a message for the email recipient. If you want to set the optional steps in the Task Email action, proceed to the next step. Otherwise, skip to Step 10.
- Under the Set Question section, select either Yes/No or Multiple Choice from the list. If you select Yes/No, proceed to Step 9. Otherwise, skip to Step 10.
- Enter the question on the box, then an optional description, if required. Skip to Step 13.
- Under the Multiple Choice section, you may either manually enter a choice or import several choices at once. To manually enter a choice, proceed to Step 11. Otherwise, skip to Step 12.
- Enter a choice, then click the + button to the right. Repeat for all choices to be shown on the box.
- Click the Import choices button, enter all the choices on the window in separate lines, then click Done.
- Enter a name for the square bracket to which all answers will be saved for later use.
- To set email reminders for the recipient, click the Enabled box under the Email Reminders section, select the number in days in between reminders, the number of times a reminder will be sent, and the time the reminder will be sent to the recipient.
- Click the x button on the top-left to save your changes and close the Action Editor.
NOTE: Changing the question type from Yes/No to Multiple Choice and vice-versa will reset the current question settings, including the square bracket where the answer is saved. After changing the question type, you will need to enter a new question and define a new square bracket. The name for the square bracket can be the same as the one used previously.
To Copy All Answers in a Task Email Action
If Question Type is set to Multiple Choice, you may copy all answers to the clipboard. To do this, click the Copy all button under the Multiple Choice section.
To Delete An Answer or All Answers from a Task Email Action
If Question Type is set to Multiple Choice, you may delete all answers if you make a mistake setting them up. To do this, click the Delete all button under the Multiple Choice section.
Individual answers may also be deleted by clicking the Delete icon to the right of the answer.
How a Task Email Action Appears in the User Application
The Task Email action, once triggered, will show the message set up for the action in the User Application. At the same time, it will exit the user from the workflow. The task email will then be sent to the assigned user's email address. The assigned user answers the question by clicking the appropriate buttons within the email.
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